Pepita Seth in conversation with Anupama Raju. This episode is part of the Voices of Faith series for JLF Brave New World, presented by the Kamini and Vindi Banga Family Trust.
Syed Salman Chishty in conversation with Rana Safvi. This episode is part of the Voices of Faith series for JLF Brave New World, presented by the Kamini and Vindi Banga Family Trust.
Bill Gates in conversation with Alok Sharma. “It’s easy to feel powerless in the face of a problem as big as climate change. But you’re not powerless. And you don’t have to be a politician or a philanthropist to make a difference.” – Bill Gates In conversation with Alok Sharma, President of the COP26 Climate Conference and former Secretary of State for Business, Bill Gates will set out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in tim...
Unfinished is one of the most exciting and inspirational books of the year, following Priyanka Chopra Jonas' journey through life and cinema. The memoir takes readers from her childhood in India, through her formative teenage years in the US, to her return to India where she unexpectedly won the national and global beauty pageants (Miss India and Miss World) that launched her acting career. The result is a book that is warm, funny, sassy, inspiring, bold and rebellious and will inspire a generat...
Payal Arora, Marcus du Sautoy, Tarun Khanna, Renata Lok-Dessallien, Pragya Sharma and Meredith Broussard moderated by Sanjoy K. Roy. Has technology, with its augmented and extended reality, and the social disengagement of the Pandemic, transformed our perception of the real? Has the virtual world changed and upended the significance of physical experience? What are the definitions of reality? What defines the new realities? Writers and thinkers, futurists and traditionalists discuss and debate i...
Celebrated actor Anupam Kher's latest book, Your Best Day is Today, is an enduring narrative that encourages us to take a pause and consider and appreciate the smaller things in life. An amalgamation of experiences, lessons and positive takeaways, the book attempts to present a guide to connect with your inner self in order to cope with these difficult times. In this session Kher delves on the importance of adapting to change and the necessity of knowing that you are not alone.
Vikas Swarup’s thrilling second novel Six Suspects is a witty, gripping and masterfully written tale that looks deep within the heart of contemporary India. The internationally bestselling author Slumdog Millionaire deftly explores themse of murder, corruption and oppurtunity, through an imaginative and intensive plot, unravelling the lives and motives of the six suspects involved in the killing of a politician’s son, offering both a riveting page-turner and a sobering look into the social dynam...
The digital landscape is perhaps the most exciting space for creative potential today, having transformed long-established modes of consuming, interpreting and interacting with text-based narratives. This is a golden age of entertainment as streaming services constantly evolve, challenging viewer expectations and bringing in new ways in which stories are created, absorbed and shared. In a fascinating session, the panelists exchange ideas on the process of adapting dynamic scripts to the screen, ...
Avni Doshi’s Booker shortlisted novel Burnt Sugar, published as Girl in White Cotton in India, is a vivid and unsettling account following the complex relationship between a mother and daughter. Tracing the fragile line between familial devotion and deception the tale evocatively brings up the subjective nature of truth and the reality of toxic relationships. In conversation with author and poet Janice Pariat, they examine the roots of this compelling and raw narrative and unravel its questions ...
The seeds of the storming of the Capital were sown, and shown to the world, early in President Trump’s Presidency with his chest-thumping belief in what commentators have called “dangerous” nationalism. Scholar and critical theorist Homi K. Bhabha, a believer in a more benign and inclusive world view, evaluates how you address these actions rooted within the fabric of chaos, discontent and “uncivil unrest”. A session that analyses the growing instances of neo nationalism around the world also di...
Douglas Stuart in conversation with Paul McVeigh. Glasgow-born Douglas Stuart’s 2020 Booker prize-winning debut novel Shuggie Bain evokes the essence of addiction, parenthood, courage and love. Following the bond between a son and his mother, fractured by alcoholism, poverty, aspiration and human misery. The novel graphs an intimate, devastating yet ultimately hopeful journey through their lives. Stuart began his career in fashion design before moving onto writing. His other work includes the sh...
Celebrated satirist, critic and writer Craig Brown’s Baillie Gifford Prize winning recent biography One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time is a serendipitous retelling of the chance merger of four elemental figures. An enchanting mix of history, autobiography, interviews and fan letters, it brings forth a fitting tribute to a band whose words echo through homes even today. Through a kaleidoscopic mix of narratives, the book also presents a look into the lives of those around them who were engul...
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Priya Atwal have both evoked the spirit of the beautiful Maharani Jindan Kaur through fiction and fact. Kaur was regent of the Sikh Empire from 1843 until 1846. She was renowned for her energy and strength of purpose with the Governor General Dalhousie writing of her, “She has the only manly understanding in the Punjab”. Divakaruni has previously authored the celebrated books The Palace of Illusions, Mistress of Spices and The Forest of Enchantment . Her latest boo...
“India lives in her villages,” said Gandhi. Although agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, accounting for close to 16 %of the GDP and providing employment to much of the nation's workforce, rural-urban distances and divides continue to grow. The incomprehension between those who contribute to growing our food and those who consume it widens by the day. All political parties claim to represent the farmer but the tiller of the soil is mute and invisible in the process of decisio...
Best-selling author and historian Ben MacIntyre’s latest work Agent Sonya is an exhilarating narrative whfich unravels the life of Ursula Kuczynski Burton, code name- Agent Sonya, the spy behind some of the most dangerous espionage operations of the twentieth century. Her escapades included a failed assasination on Hitler, spying on the Japanese and other covert missions for Moscow. MacIntyre’s other books include Agent Zigzag, Operation Mincemeat and A Spy Among Friends. In conversation with Sw...
A powerful narrative on the stark realities of climate change, We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast by Jonathan Safran Foer takes a hard-hitting look at the day-to-day human contribution to the unfolding environmental catastrophe. Weaving personal stories, facts and metaphors, he also analyses what motivates some people to sacrifice short-term comfort for the sake of the long term preservation of our climate by eliminating animal-based products from their diet. In conversati...
The recurrence of pandemics is an unfortunate reality in human history. Leaving a devastating trail of suffering and death, they disappear from public memory until such time that the demons surface again. Academic and author Chinmay Tumbe in his recent book, Age of Pandemics (1817-1920): How They Shaped India and the World, chronicles the many facets of the cholera, plague and influenza pandemics, which claimed over 70 million lives between 1817 and 1920 with India being the epicentre in all the...
Democracy has many faces, many lives, subject to change, investigation, reform. In The Retreat of Western Liberalism , Edward Luce makes a larger statement about the weakening of western hegemony and the crisis of liberal democracy, of which Donald Trump and his European counterparts are not the cause, but a terrifying symptom. He warns of the dangerous ignorance of the West regarding its own socio-political trajectory, and its arrogance towards society's economic losers, insisting that we canno...
Sex and Vanity is Kevin Kwan’s latest book, following on the sensational success of Crazy Rich Asians , and opening up a world of extravagant travel, love, and deceit, with subtle undertones of the complexities of race and identity. A love affair traversing Capri and the Hamptons, the narrative – a homage to A Room With a View – introduces us to the lives of the ultra-rich seeking happiness in excess, Asian classism and snobbery. The bestselling author of China Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Pr...
The interactions between India and China have been long and complicated. Tansen Sen sets on a singular mission: to fill the gaps in the narratives tying the regions, breaking through traditional conceptions of understanding India-China connections and proposing new ways to explore the historical and contemporary relations. Sen peoples his tapestry with material exchanges, archival evidence, intelligence reports and information networks, sweeping across historical contexts both within and outside...
“All power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” So goes the axiom but is it an absolute truth? Is power inherently susceptible to being misused? Or can power be yielded dispassionately for the public good? Eminent speakers and public intellectuals examine the proposition in its different dimensions.
Celebrated author, poet and artist Mark Haddon takes us on a journey through his literary career, which includes The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time , the short story collection The Pier Falls and his latest novel, The Porpoise . In conversation with author and broadcaster Sandip Roy, he talks about the inspirations and ethos that guide his pen.
In Brown Baby , Nikesh Shukla explores themes of racism, feminism, parenting and our shifting ideas of home. By turns heartwrenching, hilariously funny and intensely relatable, the memoir is dedicated to the author’s two young daughters and serves as an act of remembrance to the grandmother they never had a chance to meet. In this emotionally stirring session, Shukla navigates the porous boundaries of love, grief and fatherhood in conversation with British stand-up comedian, radio host and prese...
Was the relationship between China and the world shaped by wars? War with Japan in the late 1930s, the PRC's involvement in Korea in the early 1950s, its border conflict with India in 1962, and the military offensive it launched against Vietnam in 1978 were key events in the history of China's foreign relations. Within this context, how will the relationship between the two rising powers, China and India, and the global leadership of the United States change during the 2020s? As China develops i...
Kate Summerscale’s latest book, The Haunting of Alma Fielding , is a gripping narrative that follows the investigation of supernatural experiences in the shadow of war, and the unraveling of a story of trauma, loss and alienation. Summerscale is also the author of bestsellers The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and The Queen of Whale Cay . In conversation with historian and author Ira Mukhoty, Summerscale explores the 1930s case of the ‘Croydon Poltergeist’ and the hidden folds of the human mind....
A session traversing the spiritual and archeological path of the expansion of Buddhism opening a fascinating window into its foundations, histories and traditions. It also gives a keen insight into the role of patronage and of Buddhist monks in spreading its ideas and philosophy. Academic and author Himanushu Prabha Ray, talks of the expansion of Buddhism within India while the Senior curator for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, John Guy, explores the spread of Buddhism through SE Asia, in conver...
Nobel Peace Prize winner and bestselling author Malala Yousafzai's journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. From being an education activist in the Swat Valley in Pakistan to her path breaking work with the Malala Fund, she has emerged as an international voice in the fight for education for all and ending gender discrimination. Her latest book is We are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World. In a conversation with Pragya Tiwari, she gives us an inside loo...
Renowned author and music critic Alex Ross’ latest book Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music unravels the cultural history and significance of Richard Wagner and the kaleidoscopic work and life he inhabited. Ross weaves together not just Wagner’s story but also the political, artistic and cultural history of the last 150 years. Ross’ other books include The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century and Listen to This. with In conversation with academic and author Katherine ...
We live in an age of accelerated anxiety and the prospect of loss stares us in the face in the times of the pandemic. A conversation across generations where two young women writers, Kairavi Bharat Ram, age 22, and Arshya Gaur, age 16, share their hurts and the process of healing with clinical psychologist and author Sonali Gupta and psychologist and family therapist Shelja Sen. Dr. Sen is co-founder of Children First, a child and adolescent mental health institute, and author of Imagine: No Chi...
Enter Stage Right: The Alkazi-Padamsee Family Memoir is a heartfelt homage to one of the greatest alliances in the world of theatre and art in post-Independence India: the Alkazi-Padamsees. Penned by noted director Feisal Alkazi, son of the late theatre veteran and Director of the National School of Drama Ebrahim Alkazi, and Roshen Alkazi, pioneering costumier and founder-director of Art Heritage, the memoir charmingly recounts the stories and anecdotes that constitute the history of Indian thea...
